A pharmacokinetic study of intraperitoneal heparin was undertaken in eleven chronic renal failure patients as a guide for its therapeutic use in peritoneal dialysis. The intraperitoneal heparin was assayed as the activated-partial-thromboplastin time (A-PTT) of peritoneal aspirate or outflow dialyzate added to control plasma. This was noted to decay relatively slowly, the mean t 1/2 of heparin in the peritoneal cavity being 10.8 +/- 0.93 hr. The heparin cofactor antithrombin III determined by… CONTINUE READING